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Unexpected Winners: Portsmouth 2008 FA Cup

Portsmouth have been a club hit by hard times in the last decade but before that they were regarded as the best of the rest in England. In 2008 the club from the south coast pulled off their greatest feat of all and won England’s biggest knockout competition.

Pompey assembled a high quality team under the management of the eccentric Harry Redknapp. The squad included David James, Glen Johnson, Sol Campbell, Sylvain Distin, Lassana Diarra, Pedro Mendes, John Utaka, Niko Kranjcar, Herman Hreidarsson, Sulley Muntari, Nwankwo Kanu, Milan Baros and David Nugent to name a few.

Redknapp’s men started their journey in the FA cup in the 3rd round, with a 1-0 win away at Championship side Ipswich Town courtesy of a Nugent goal. Pompey then followed that victory up with two more, beating Plymouth Argyle 2-1 at Fratton Park before overcoming Preston North End 1-0 away at Deepdale.

The greatest challenge for Portsmouth came in the quarter-final as they were drawn against Sir Alex Ferguson’s imperious Manchester United side at Old Trafford. Pompey were more than up for the challenge though and when former Liverpool man Milan Baros was brought down by Tomasz Kuszczak, the Polish goalkeeper saw red and Muntari calmly slotted away the ensuing penalty. That goal was all the south coast club needed to see off 10 man United and earnt them a spot at Wembley for the semi-final.

That semi-final produced another 1-0 Portsmouth win, this time against West Bromwich Albion, with Kanu scoring the goal that secured the clubs first final since 1939.

They would meet Cardiff City in the final, who had had a somewhat favourable draw up to that point. The Welsh side had faced non-league Chasetown in the third round and only met Premier League opposition once in the quarter-finals against Middlesbrough. A 1-0 win against fellow Championship side Barnsley in the other semi-final set up the 2008 final. In fact, it was the first time since 1908 that three of the four semi-finalists came from outside the top flight of English football.

Unsurprisingly, the final was another 1-0 game. In front of an almost sell out Wembley crowd, Kanu scored the only goal of the game in the first half. It came from a John Utaka cross that was only parried out by Cardiff goalkeeper, Peter Enckelman, as far as the Nigerian striker, who scooped the ball into the net to rapturous scenes.

The FA Cup triumph would secure Pompey a place in the 2008/09 UEFA Cup, which marked the clubs one and only foray into Europe. They would fail to qualify from their group but did have a memorable 2-2 draw against an AC Milan side that had the likes of Kaka, Filippo Inzhagi, Andriy Shevchenko, Clarence Seedorf, Gennaro Gattuso and Ronaldinho.

Portsmouth may have hit hard times but nobody can take away this monumental success and the fond memories it will have left Pompey fans with.

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